Astronomers find the most distant stars in the Milky Way

astronomers at the University of California, The farthest stars in the Milky Way, 1 million light-years from Earth. The discovery should make it possible to accurately map the boundaries of our galaxy, and also serve as a standard for measuring the galactic distances of structures, objects, and phenomena that exist throughout the Universe in a state of continuous expansion.

The research was based on data from the Next Generation Virgo Cluster Survey, the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope program. galaxy clusters. A total of 208 stars of the type known as RR Lyraetheir physical properties and regular variations in brightness make them perfect spots. reference for calculating distances to cosmic elements.

The work presented at the recent meeting, American Astronomical Societyconfirms theoretical predictions about its size. milky way halo. This hazy region surrounding our galaxy is made up of dust, gas, and dark matter. In its central area is a disk containing the oldest stars and stretching hundreds of thousands of light years in all directions.

However, the entire structure of the halo is much larger than its disk, about 100,000 light-years in diameter. Soon, the study reveals that there is virtually no gap between the Milky Way’s outer boundary and its neighboring galaxy, Andromeda.

This proves predictions made more than 10 years ago about the coming of a major cosmic event, including NASA: Milky Way collides with Andromeda. This galaxy impact event is expected to occur in 4 billion years, and while the Earth and Solar System as a whole are not in danger of extinction, the Sun is expected to be launched into a new area in space.

Simulations from data provided by Hubble also show that the merger between galaxies should take another 2 billion years to complete. Also, the models do not predict an encounter between the stars as they are relatively far apart, but it is likely that they have changed their orbits around the new galactic centre.